The Path of Resilience
by PrincessDaydream77
Summary: Simon and Hector's extensive planning had finally come to fruition, and the week of the Resilience Camp had come. Unfortunately, the week would not run as smoothly as was planned, as bickering students, disasterous activities and a wedge driven between husband and wife may force Waterloo Road to realise that the path of resilience will not be a simple one to follow.
1. Setting Off

The Path of Resilience

Summary: Simon and Hector's extensive planning had finally come to fruition, and the week of the Resilience Camp had come. Unfortunately, the week would not run as smoothly as was planned, as bickering students, disasterous activities and a wedge driven between husband and wife may force Waterloo Road to realise that the path of resilience will not be a simple one to follow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Waterloo Road, or any of the characters used in this story.

Chapter One

Silence reigned over the master bedroom at 3 Octavia Terrace, only the distant sound of birdsong from the garden breaking the blissful hold of the quiet. Two figures lay asleep on the bed, holding each other closely even as they slumbered. Neither of them was stirring, both enjoying the peace and quiet of their bed, and for a long moment, everything was utterly perfect.

Then a screeching sound came from the bedside table, and Simon Lowsley sluggishly pulled himself to sit upright, reaching blindly in the dark to locate the alarm clock and shutting it off. He blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the haze of sleep from them, and reluctantly extracting himself from his wife's arms, crossing the room and flicking the light switch, flooding the room with a harsh, artificial light.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the level of light, the man returned to his bed, kneeling down by the side of it and lightly shaking his wife on the shoulder. At first, she did not respond, but after a couple of further attempts, she finally began to stir.

"Come on, Sue, wake up." Simon spoke, his voice filled with an excitement that would not have been out of place in the voice of a child. "We're off to Resilience Camp today, and we don't want to be late for the bus, do we?"

"No." Sue responded, and her husband was far too occupied with his own excitement to realise that her speech did not hold anywhere near as much happiness as his did. In truth, Mrs. Lowsley had tired of the Resilience Education programme. He, and his new friend, Hector Reid, had intended for the programme to teach students discipline, to teach them to stand up for themselves and not be taken for fools, but all it had done was make them rowdier than ever, increasing the difficulty of her own job tenfold. Consequently, a week in the middle of nowhere with these students was not the most exciting news she had had in recent times.

Twenty minutes later, and Sue, showered and dressed, descended the beautiful staircase of her home. She still recalled the day she had first seen the house, when her father had secretly bought it as a wedding present for them, but for the majority of the time, she pushed the first half of that day to the back of her mind. After all, it had been touch and go on the last day of term whether or not they would even make it to the altar, and she did not wish to relive the heartbreak she had gone through when she thought that Simon had walked away.

Shaking the thoughts away, Sue proceeded into the kitchen, where the smell of bacon and eggs cooking filled her nostrils. Her husband was stood at the stove, watching some eggs as they fried, and he was so focused on making sure that they did not burn that he did not notice her enter the room. Using this to her advantage, the redhead tiptoed across the tiled floor in silence, and threw her arms around her husband.

At the unexpected touch, Simon jumped, even yelping slightly in surprise, but he quickly recovered from the shock when he caught sight of the locks of red hair resting on his shoulder, turning on the spot and catching his wife in his arms.

"Mrs. Lowsley, you are unbelievable!" he exclaimed, his laughter mingling with Sue's as he spun her around in his arms. They continued to mess around for a moment until the slight tang of sulphur hit their noses and the Deputy Head sprinted towards the stove, pulling the eggs from the heat before they burnt too severely and doing the same with the bacon on the grill. Giggling a little at her husband's antics, the redhead sat herself down at the table, watching Simon with an affectionate grin as he piled the fatty foods onto a plate and set it down on the table, in front of his own seat.

Sue raised an eyebrow as she leant forwards, resting her cheek on her palm as her husband sat down. She was a little surprised, she had to be honest, as though she did dislike fatty foods for breakfast, Simon would usually have made her something, as he was always the one that rose first in the morning, but today, nothing. The confusion in her eyes must have shown through, she realised, as just a moment later, a smile appeared on the man's face.

"Here you go." the smiling man sighed, walking over to the fridge and returning with a bowl, which was filled with yoghurt, blueberries and a fruit coulis, and dotted with small pieces of flapjack, a favourite breakfast of hers which she never had time to make, as she was always too busy preparing for work. Immediately, Sue leant over the table and pecked her husband on the cheek, before sitting down once more to eat her breakfast. It was going to be a long day ahead, and she would need all her strength if she was to get through it.

A quick glance at the clock radio in the car told the pair that they were already five minutes late. A large group of students were gathered outside the building, accompanied by Hector and Nikki Boston, along with the headmistress, Christine Mulgrew, who wanted to ensure that no incidents occurred before they had even left the school premises, an event which seemed extremely likely, given the excitable attitude of the students.

Christine was already across the yard to speak with Simon by the time he had shut the car door, and with an apologetic glance he was off to the office, to sort out the paperwork which should have been completed a quarter of an hour ago, and would have been, had he been on time. Once he was gone, Sue sighed deeply, before lifting the suitcases out of the car boot and slamming it shut.

However, once the door was closed, the woman looked upwards to see a figure stood beside her, one that she had not expected to see that morning.

"Sis!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her sister, who was laughing at her reaction. But in the midst of their embrace, Sue looked over Vix's shoulder, where she caught sight of the leopard print suitcase stood beside her own purple flowered one. She felt that she had to ask the question, although she was almost certain that she knew the answer. "Why do you have a suitcase?"

"Oh, I volunteered to come on the trip. Nikki said you needed more staff to supervise, I thought it sounded like a laugh." the elder sister explained, shrugging her shoulders slightly in response to her sister's suspiscious gaze. "And I thought I could take the opportunity to spend some quality time with my little sis."

"More like you could spend some quality time with your girlfriend." Sue responded, though she did not do so maliciously. As all siblings tended to do, they frequently japed at each other, but they both knew that it did not mean anything negative.

"Alright, so maybe I didn't want to spend a week without Nikki. Are you honestly saying that you would've come on the trip without Si?" Vix asked. Her younger sister sighed and shook her head slightly, aware that she had been beaten on this occasion. In turn, the caramel haired woman chuckled a little, before asking a second question. "Exactly. So, are you looking forward to the week at camp? I mean, rowdy kids, dull activities and at least half an hour a day listening to Hector preach about vigilance, what's not to like?"

"Give it a rest, Vix." Once again, Sue sighed her statement, and immediately, Vix took the hint. They had an unconscious pact between each other not to use their names in their conversation unless they really needed the other person to listen. The gleeful smile that had adorned her face had faded slightly now, and it was replaced instead by one of slight worry.

However, the elder Spark had barely opened her mouth before Hector's voice came booming across the playground, catching the attention of all that stood there, and containing the very message that the younger woman had now come to dread, the message that symbolised the beginning of what could end up as a week of living hell.

"Right then, everyone. Let's go!"

A/N: I wanted to do something with the resilience camp, but I didn't feel like it would fit properly into Written in the Stars, so I decided to do this. Just in case anyone's wondering, this is set after 9.11, but is not canon complient after that, because Vix and Nikki aren't engaged yet (I didn't think it would fit for them to be engaged yet). Anyway, please review!


	2. The Never-Ending Journey

Chapter Two

A/N: Thank you to LittleBooLost and SweetiesNCupcakes for being my first reviewers on this story. I really appreciate it!

The bus had barely been in motion for five minutes, and already trouble was stirring. It had been an extremely bad idea, on reflection, to have the majority of Years Four, Five and Six on the trip, accompanied by only five members of staff, especially given that there were a fair few troublemakers seated together at the back of the bus, and Sue found her head slipping to rest against the cold glass of the window, hoping that the bitter temperature would soothe the pounding in her skull.

The science teacher was almost certain that the students were being deliberately disruptive, and with new student Gabriella Wark in the midst of the trouble, she would not be surprised if they were. They had been laughing, screaming and singing obscene songs for a couple of minutes now, unpunished, as Simon had been too busy checking the paperwork to stop them, Hector could not be bothered by the looks of it, Nikki was checking the map and Vix had made the valid excuse that she was not a teacher, and therefore they would not listen to her. Sue herself did not have the natural authority to even try and stop the students, and so decided not to get involved.

However, soon the bus went completely quiet, something that the majority of the staff found extremely suspect. For silence to have fallen so quickly, without any staff intervention, they would have to be planning something. Typically for such outspoken young people, though, it did not take long for them to find out.

"Miss!" came an exclamation from the back of the bus, clearly the voice of Rhiannon Salt, judging by the heavy accent. At first, Sue took no notice, passing it off as a general cry. Nikki turned to the source of the sound, to check that everything was alright, and Vix did the same. But the second call made it indisputable who the girl was speaking to. "Mrs. Lowsley!"

"What is it, Rhiannon?" the redheaded teacher called, turning her head towards the back of the bus.

"Miss, Harley feels really sick." Rhiannon responded, her voice seeming to be filled with just a little too much worry. She heard Dynasty Barry comment on this, but could not distinguish her words from such a distance. She was half tempted to just turn around in her seat and ignore the kids, but she knew that, as the only qualified first aider on the trip, she was the one responsible for making sure all the students were healthy and safe.

"Harley, do you want a paracetamol?" she asked, moving to undo her seatbelt and standing up, moving quickly past Simon, who sat beside her, and into the aisle. The parents had all given permission for paracetamol to be used in the recommended dosage if students were ill on the trip, and it was the first port of call for these kinds of situations.

"No, it's alright, Miss, I think." he responded, and for a moment, Sue was confused. If Harley was feeling ill, then why was he refusing to take any medication to relieve the symptoms. Suddenly, she realised the reason behind this. But not quickly enough, as before she knew it, the Year Four boy had called out the words that might as well have been a rallying cry. "I think I just need a sickbag!"

It took hardly a split second for the chants to start, just as they had done in her Fourth Year Physics class the previous term, and quickly, the woman pushed past Simon, who was now undoing his own seatbelt, to collapse in her chair by the window. Things were already bad enough, she did not need the pupils to see her cry, it would only make the situation worse.

"Right, guys, stop it now!" yelled Simon, and the students did so quickly. They may make fun of her, Sue noted, but they would never ignore the direct instructions of their Deputy Head. "It has only been five minutes since we left the school, and it will only take five minutes to take you all back there. Is that what you want?"

"No, sir." chorused the students, some more sheepishly than others.

"Right, then. Let's just calm it down a bit, shall we?" Immediately, the noise level dropped to near silence, and Sue could not be happier about that. After quickly checking that she was alright, and her giving a falsified answer that he was too preoccupied to notice, Simon moved forward a seat to the space beside Hector, and immediately began to discuss the plans for when they arrived at the camp.

The redhead could not disguise a sigh when her husband abandoned her, in favour of discussing cabins and cross country with Mr. Reid, but she hardly managed to suppress one either, when Vix shifted over to the seat Simon had just vacated. There were many things she needed at that point in time, but a pep talk from her older sister was definitely not one of them.

"You alright, sis?" she asked, although it was clear in her expression that she already knew the answer. Automatically, after years of doing so and lying, Sue opened her mouth to say that she was fine, but once again, her sister's expression stopped her in her tracks. "Are they always like this?"

"They used to be." she answered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "But after Barry went, it calmed down a bit. He was always the ringleader. But now, I think they're taking instructions from Rhiannon and Gabriella instead."

"Did you tell Dad about what they were like?" the caramel haired woman asked. Sue merely shook her head.

"Of course I didn't. I didn't even tell Simon until I'd gotten in way too deep." she responded, slightly more sharply than she had intended to. She was going to leave it at that, but having seen the unspoken question on the woman's lips, she went further. "I wanted him to think that I could cope, that I was good here. I wanted him to be proud of me. How proud could he possibly be if he had to bail me out of a classroom full of teenagers?"

"Sis, he is already really proud of you. He always has been, even when you were off gallivanting around the world on RyanAir." Vix told her sister, ending the sentence with a slight laugh, which was mirrored by Sue. "He'd rather you told him you couldn't cope and went to find another job, than just stay miserable in this one for the rest of your life to try and make him happy. Because he won't be, not if you're not. So, if you want to get out of there, then do it."

"Thanks, sis." said Sue, and she genuinely meant it. "You always manage to say exactly the right thing. Although it was British Airways, not RyanAir."

"Whatever." Vix sighed, moving back over to her seat beside Nikki. "But you'll think about it, yeah?"

"Let's just get this week out of the way first." the younger woman suggested, casting a quick glance behind her at the students, who were now beginning to become rowdy again. "I've got a feeling that I'm going to be needed here."

A/N: Please review!


	3. A Sour Arrangement

Chapter Three

A/N: Thank you to guest, AmyOncer, LittleBooLost, SweetiesNCupcakes, Guest and Mini Peacelet for reviewing the last chapter. I'm amazed at the response I've had for this story, and I'm so glad that you're liking it. Hope you continue to!

When the coach finally pulled to a stop, having reached its destination, Sue could not hide her relief, as she had been certain that, with the constant questions and interruptions from the kids, they would never have reached the camp, and would have been trapped on the bus with them for eternity. She was one of the first off the coach, making the excuse that she was a little claustrophobic, which caused a raised eyebrow from Vix, though she made no comment to the contrary, and the science teacher quickly set herself to the task of ensuring that all the students had the correct rooms assigned to them.

This was no mean feat to accomplish, and the redhead soon wished that she had not volunteered to do so. To reinforce the message of resilience, the names of the pupils had been placed into two hats, one for the boys and one for the girls, and picked out at random. Consequently, a few groups of friends had been split apart and a few young adults had been placed together that usually would have been kept on opposite sides of the camp, most notably Dynasty Barry sharing a room with arch-enemy Gabriella Wark. There were going to be sparks flying on this trip, that was for sure.

Once all the students had been told where they would be staying, they were told to go off to their rooms and unpack, leaving the five adults alone for a little while.

Sighing with relief, the staff took a seat on one of the logs surrounding a campfire that Hector and Nikki had built while Sue was dealing with the children, which stood in the middle of the circle of cabins that would be their home for the next week. Absentmindedly, the redhead glanced around, taking in their surroundings. '_I wonder who had the brilliant idea of spending a week in the middle of the woods with just under a hundred kids.'_ she thought, having to contain a nervous giggle at the thought. '_Especially one with a load of high ropes and assault courses set up around it. It's a recipe for disaster.'_

"Now, we need to sort out our rooms, as well." Hector pointed out, turning to a sheet of paper in the organisation pack Sue had set down on the table, which listed the room arrangements for the staff.

"I'll go in with Nikki." Vix offered immediately, scooting a little further along the bench towards her partner, sharing an affectionate glance with her.

"Ah, that's the thing." Simon began, and the faces of all three women fell in unison, their brows furrowing with confusion. Though he seemed a little fazed by the reaction, particularly the one of his wife, the man continued. "Well, we made the kids get all mixed in together, to make sure they were resilient, and so to make it fair... we've done the same for the staff."

"What?" Vix moaned, extremely frustrated by the situation. She had only really agreed to go on the trip if she was allowed to share a room with Nikki. Now, that didn't seem a possibility.

"It's only fair, guys, come on!" Simon tried to defend himself, but it hardly made a difference to the three women; if anything, it made them a little more annoyed. "We've already sorted the rooms, and there shouldn't be any problems with them. You'll be fine."

The man made an effort to smile convincingly, but his smile faded at the awkward silence that greeted him. Shaking his head at his colleague's inability to convince the women to adhere to their plan, Hector lifted the paper, glancing across the arrangement of the names on it.

"Come on, ladies. Don't get the Resilience Camp off to a bad start just because of the rooms." the man said, flashing his trademark smirk at them. It did not seem to have much more of an effect on them than Simon's stuttering explanations, but it was good enough to allow them to listen to him, the silence becoming just a quiet for a little while. For the next thirty seconds, at least.

"Right, then." the Deputy Head began, seizing the opportunity to speak while the women were listening. "Well, obviously, me and Hector will be sharing a room, as we're the only male teachers on the trip. There's a twin room and a single room left, and the person that got picked to be in the single room was Nikki."

Suddenly, two voices rang out, both filled with annoyance and shock, speaking the exact same word. Simon sighed and bit his lip slightly, realising that he had probably annoyed the two worst people to annoy on this trip. "What?"

"Sue, don't be like this. It's only for five days." the man tried to reason, seeing the stormy expression cross his wife's face, and somehow thinking that it would be easier to convince her than it would his sister-in-law. At his attempt to reason with her, Sue's eyes widened, and her face became the very picture of frustration.

"Simon, I have not shared a bedroom with Vix for over twenty years." she pointed out. "There's a reason for that. Trust me, it's not a good idea."

"What's the problem?" he asked, racking his brains to find a way of making her see his point of view. "You and Vix get on like a house on fire. I saw your reaction when she came back the day before the wedding; you were over the moon. So why are you suddenly so averse to sharing a room with her?"

"It's complicated, alright?" she told him, sighing slightly. It appeared that she wanted to talk to him about it, but, having realised that they were still sat at the table with the rest of the staff, she decided not to. "I just... I feel like if I share a room with Vix, something will go wrong."

Simon had wanted to press the issue further, but a quick glance at his sister-in-law, who bore a similar expression to that of his wife, told him that it could wait.

So, instead of broaching the issue, he set off in the direction of the cabins to quickly drop off his luggage, before they began the activities. As he unpacked a few items, leaving the rest for later, the thought nagged at the back of his mind.

'_Why does she think something would go wrong?'_

A/N: By the way, Sue does have a slight backstory to why she feels scared of sharing a room with Vix, and that'll be explained in the next few chapters. Please review!


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